Rams running back Todd Gurley has been difficult for opposing teams to keep up with this season., with 870 total yards and 11 touchdowns in six games. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

This is important stuff, though. Arguably, no player is more important to the Rams than Gurley, but running backs also are easily exposed to injuries. Finding the correct balance for Gurley is important, and for the Rams, there’s good news after Gurley’s 28-carry, 208-yard game last Sunday at Denver.

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“I feel good,” Gurley said. “It was one of those weeks I just felt good. Obviously, the (offensive) line did a great job, and everybody. I had 28 carries, but they just did such a great job I didn’t take too many big hits.”

When McVay comes under criticism as the Rams’ play-caller, it’s most often for not using Gurley, the NFL’s leading rusher. enough. McVay tends to get pass-happy, particularly in close games, and it can start to feel as though not enough handoffs are going to Gurley, last season’s NFL offensive player of the year.

Yet the Rams, correctly, play the long game with Gurley. This is a team seems headed for the playoffs, and perhaps for a Super Bowl run. The goal is to have Gurley as close to 100 percent in January as he is in October. That worked out last season, and the Rams are doing a good job monitoring Gurley’s “pitch count.”

Going into Sunday’s game at San Francisco, Gurley is averaging 21.5 carries per game and 25.0 touches per game (including receptions). That’s very close to the first six games of last season, when Gurley averaged 20.5 rushes and 24.3 touches. Gurley stayed fresh and free of injuries throughout 2017.

The only (moderate) difference is that Gurley has played 349 snaps this season, compared to 312 snaps through six games in 2017. The Rams put great value Gurley’s pass-blocking skills, and that also can take a physical toll on a back, but the Denver game might be a perfect model for Gurley and the Rams.

Gurley played only 58 of 74 offensive snaps, while Malcolm Brown filled in for the rest. Gurley’s 28 carries in one game were the second-most of his career and tied his highest total since Oct. 2015.

The sight of Gurley on the sideline always raises mild concern – is he OK? – but McVay said he relies on running backs coach Skip Peete, who has worked with Gurley since 2016, to gauge fatigue level.

“He’s got a great feel for kind of just the flow of a game and how Todd is feeling,” McVay said of Peete. “He’s really in tune with, ‘All right, what does he look like?’ Because Todd can go every play. He’s such a great player, but if it looks like he needs to be spelled or if Todd says, ‘Hey, Malcolm go ahead and hop in there,’ he’s got the ability to be able to do that.”

It seems to working. McVay indicated this week that Gurley “has to be sore,” based on his usage, and the fact that the Rams played in frigid weather last week, but during a week when the Rams gave practice rest days to several of their veteran players, Gurley didn’t miss a session.

That’s rare. Gurley is well-known for his work ethic and seems to have the ability to bounce back after games. It seems that the issue is the ferocity of the hits he takes, and not their frequency.

“It just varies,” Gurley said. “I don’t know what (totals) I had the first game at Oakland, but I felt like I couldn’t ever play football again, and then the next week I felt fine. The last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling fine. So hopefully I can keep it up and keep feeling that way after the game.”

Gurley could join elite company this season. Of the 65 players who totaled 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a season, only 12 did it again the following year. It hasn’t happened in 12 years, since both Larry Johnson and Tiki Barber topped 2,100 yards in 2005 and 2006 (Barber also did it in 2004).

Gurley totaled 1,305 rushing yards and 788 receiving yards in 2017, and while his screen-pass usage is down this season, he’s still on pace for 1,661 rushing yards and 659 receiving yards, for a total of 2,320. Still, “on pace” always is a tenuous thing for a running back, so Gurley’s health is a huge priority.

“He’s a special player,” McVay said, “and for him to be able to play the way that he has, he kind of gets stronger as the game keeps going. But, you also do want to be mindful of the fact that we’re six games into a 16-game season. So, him getting stronger as the season progresses is something we talk about.”

INJURY REPORT

According to the Rams’ official injury report Friday, receiver Cooper Kupp (knee) is the only player in danger of missing Sunday’s game. McVay ruled Kupp out at the start of this week.

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.